TAMPA — Their seasons ended Sunday night, but the coaches of young teams that reached the Women’s Final Four were effusive about what’s ahead for their programs.
As they should be.
South Carolina’s Dawn Staley, in the wake of a gut-wrenching 66-65 loss to Notre Dame:
“We’re not far off, we’re not far off. We just have to continue and get the experience of playing in the Final Four.”
Maryland’s Brenda Frese, after the Terps were dispatched 81-58 by Connecticut:
“I’m excited when you talk about our future and graduating one senior, to be able to have the sophomore class come back, I’m really, really excited about this future.”
Frese could tell Staley all about taking a young team to a Final Four, and then not being able to make a return trip. The Terrapins won the 2006 NCAA title over Duke with four underclassmen in starring roles — remember freshman Kristi Tolliver’s step-back 3 over Allison Bales to send the game to overtime?
Along with Baylor’s national championship the previous year, Maryland’s accomplishment offered some hope of breaking through the UConn-Tennessee dominance at the top of the sport.
Nine years later, following back-to-back Final Four appearances with very different teams, the Terps once again have the makings of staying in the hunt for a sustained period.
Their 34-3 season included a 28-game winning streak and an undefeated run through the Big Ten regular season and tournament, largely led by a trio of sophomores, Lexie Brown, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Brionna Jones. 
The Gamecocks also finished 34-3, winning the SEC regular season and tournament, enjoying a No. 1 ranking and a rollicking wave of fan support that showed up in strong numbers at Amalie Arena.
But the dominating duo that Maryland, South Carolina and others are chasing has become UConn-Notre Dame.
Two of Maryland’s three losses came to the Irish and the Huskies, who will play for the national championship for the second consecutive year on Tuesday night, and for the fifth season in a row in the Final Four.
This will be the fourth national title game in five years for Notre Dame, which has one crown (2001) in six previous Final Fours.
UConn is vying for its fifth championship in seven years and 10th overall. A win Tuesday would give the Huskies a second three-peat of titles (the other being 2002-04).
Muffet McGraw will be coaching in her fourth final. Geno Auriemma is 9-0 when the title is on the line.
The superlatives go on and on.
At the end of a season that flirted with some genuine competitive balance, those in closest pursuit are looking for any hint of an opening, however small it may seem. Frese again:
“When you look at our game in the NCAA tournament, and you look at Dayton getting as far as they did [Elite 8 loss to UConn], you’re starting to see some parity that our game desperately needs.”
But that gap seems maddeningly elusive, as the tenor of the first game illustrated.
Carolina was constantly digging out of a hole all night, and fell behind Notre Dame 62-50 midway in the second half before rattling off a 15-2 run. Two Notre Dame starters, Lindsay Allen and Brianna Turner, had fouled out.
When Aleighsa Welch scored on a cutback with 1:12 to play, the Gamecocks took their first — and only — lead.
The building was rocking, almost explosive with jubilant Carolina fans. When Madison Cable followed up Jewell Loyd’s airball with 16 seconds to play, the lead was gone, and the Irish didn’t let Carolina All-American Tiffany Mitchell get off any kind of a good shot.
The Irish switched on screens, forcing Mitchell into multiple traps, with unsung Hannah Huffman making the biggest stop of the game.
“When they took the lead, I wasn’t sure how things were going to end up for us because you never know if we’re going to be able to have that resilience that we needed at that point without our point guard,” McGraw said.
“So I was just amazed.”
Final Four experience undoubtedly was a factor. Staley, who played in three Final Fours for Virginia without winning a title, offered up a familiar promise, a blend of optimism and the bitter effects of a heartbreaking defeat.
“We had a lot of firsts in our program,” she said. “I want us to enjoy the year, but I also want us to have a certain hunger, a certain bad taste in our mouths from experiencing and being so close to competing for a national championship that it will fuel us to be better individually, collectively, so we can get back to this point.”
Frese said the difference between where her team and others stand and UConn and Notre Dame is simple — “it’s having enough great players and great coaches.”
Both teams can score from all five positions. That disparity was in evidence early on in the nightcap, when UConn center Morgan Tuck — conspicuously absent from many All-American teams — proved too hard to handle. Terps sophomore center Brionna Jones was saddled with two early fouls, and Maryland couldn’t get much done in the paint all night.
“They have three All-Americans, and four of the five consistently put up All-American numbers,” she said. “To beat them you’ve got to match that. It can’t be luck.”
Maryland and South Carolina figure to be Top 5 programs in pre-season estimations, with their returning and incoming ranks. So should Baylor, Tennessee and Florida State, which came within a game of the Final Four.
And that’s just the matter. Those whose seasons are in the books will soon be looking ahead, hungrily seeking a way to mind a gap that’s proving to be stubbornly persistent.
